Doctors fined thousands for medical mistakes

Dr. Rosemarie Toussaint was supposed to remove a patient's appendix during a 2007 surgery at Florida Hospital Orlando.

But a subsequent CT scan showed it was still inside the 41-year-old woman. Toussaint had taken out fatty tissue, and another doctor had to operate a few days later to remove the appendix.

On Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine fined Toussaint $5,000 and ordered her to do 50 hours of community service for the botched procedure.

The board did not punish the doctor for initially leaving a sponge inside the woman's body. Board member Laurie K. Davies from Gainesville said the mistake was discovered and corrected after a sponge count while the patient was still on the operating table. Toussaint had done exactly what physicians are supposed to do, said Davies, an anesthesiologist.

Toussaint no longer works at Florida Hospital. Her attorney said the hospital paid the patient $100,000 for the mishap. Florida Hospital would not comment on the case.

Previously, Toussaint had worked as a transplant surgeon in Washington and an assistant professor at Howard University. She told the board she intends to work as a physician for the Army.

"I made a severe mistake. If I had to do it over again, I would not have stayed up all night" and attempted the operation, said Toussaint, who had done only one other appendectomy in her career.

Her case is among the dozens under board scrutiny during a two-day meeting that ends today in Orlando. The board holds disciplinary hearings in various cities across the state throughout the year.